Starry Eyed
by mosylu
Summary: Most new husbands wouldn't be so entertained by their new wife's crush, especially on the town superhero, but Barry looked downright tickled. Clearly he didn't feel threatened in the least.


(A/N) Back2thestart02 asked on Tumblr for Barry teasing Iris about her crush on him in S1, before she knew his real identity, and I had fun with it. I know that Superman is supposed to not be in this universe, but I'm fudging it just a little so I can include Maggie Sawyer and Toby Raines.

* * *

No matter whether you were in Coast City or Keystone or Metropolis, police department receptions were all the same. Toby was proud of Maggie and her interdepartmental work to catch that serial killer, of course, but god, two departments? The shop talk was deadly.

"This is one of our CSI's," Captain Singh said. "Allen, this is Toby Raines, Detective Sawyer's girlfriend."

Toby forced a smile. CSI's were worse than detectives, in her experience. It was all hair fibers and blood spatter and no social graces whatsoever. But Allen, a lanky white man who had to juggle his plate and glass to shake her hand, had a bright, friendly face that she couldn't help warming to.

He also had a minor pyramid of cheese and crackers on his plate.

"You got a pharaoh buried in there somewhere?" Toby asked.

He glanced down at his plate and blushed. "Oh, well, uh, I skipped dinner."

Singh rolled his eyes. "Jesus, Allen, leave some crappy cheese for the rest of us."

"Yeah, yep, sure thing, Captain."

That weirdness aside, he was pretty personable for a science nerd. He asked questions about her and actually acted interested in their answers. When he found out where she worked, he gasped, "You've got to meet my wife!" Without waiting for an answer, he twisted around and waved one long arm like a windmill.

A pretty young black woman glanced over, said something to the older man she was with, and came toward them. The beaming face Barry turned on her made half the introduction. "Toby," he said, "this is my wife, Iris West-Allen. Iris, this is Toby Raines."

"Toby Raines? From the _Metropolis Star_?"

"You read the _Star_?" Toby asked, surprised. The _Star_ had decent readership, but nothing next to the _Planet._

"When I can manage it. You did that article series on disparities in public services across Metropolis."

"I did, yeah." Not one of her sexier pieces, but it had been a lot of digging and the headless-chicken reaction from the city council had been gratifying. "You liked it?"

"It was great! Wow. I'm so glad I met you."

"Iris works for Central City Picture News," Barry said.

"West-Allen," Toby said, something sparking. "Is that new? The Allen part?"

"We've been married about three weeks," Iris said, blushing prettily.

"Iris West of CCPN. I've seen your work."

Her eyes went wide. "Really?"

"The one about the women's shelter, the one about nepotism in the parks department, and all the stuff about the Flash, of course."

"Yeah, he makes a lot of news in this town."

Barry was grinning into his glass for some reason.

"Tell me about it. In Metropolis, a day without Superman is one slow news day." Toby rolled her eyes. "But your articles are great. Smart, and balanced - I mean, it's really easy for superhero stories to either get gushy or overly critical. You generally manage a happy medium."

"Thank you. Wow. That means a lot coming from you."

"Actually, her early stuff on the Flash was pretty gushy," Barry said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "Like, her really early stuff. Pre-CCPN."

Iris rolled her eyes at him affectionately. "I wrote a blog," she admitted. "Right when the Flash came on the scene. It was, ummmmm, not quite so balanced."

"She had a crush," Barry stage-whispered.

"Be-ear," she said.

Toby raised her brows at them. Most new husbands wouldn't be so entertained by their new wife's crush, especially on the town superhero, but Barry looked downright tickled. Clearly he didn't feel threatened in the least.

"I admit, I was pretty … " She trailed off, twirling her hand as if the right word would be hanging around somewhere waiting to be caught.

"Thirsty?"

"Nooooo!" She whacked him across the chest. "Stop!"

"Were you dating at the time?" Toby asked.

"No, but we knew each other. We've known each other for years." She slipped her hand into his. "At the time I was dating someone else." Something sad touched her eyes and dissolved.

"I was madly in love with her," Barry said, munching a cracker. "Of course. How could I not be?"

"Of course," Toby laughed.

"But she was with someone, and beyond that, there was this guy in a skintight red suit who ran around saving people. Although you know, I've always thought it was fifty percent the heroism and fifty percent his butt."

"Okay, that's enough outta you, mister," she said, poking him in the ribs. She turned to Toby. "I was pretty starry-eyed in the beginning, I admit. Then CCPN hired me - "

"Because your blog was actually awesome," Barry said.

She shot him a quick smile. "- and I started to really learn what I was doing."

"That's a rough part of being a cub," Toby said. "I remember that. I screwed up pretty awesomely a few times."

"Right? Plus, well, things happened to show me that the Flash wasn't some perfect angel. I mean, he has amazing powers and he's done amazing things, but at the end of the day, he's human like all of us and sometimes screws up, and the media needs to say so."

Barry was focused on his cheese again. He'd probably heard this a million times from his wife. She put her arm around his waist.

"That's our job," Toby said, smiling at her. "Like it or lump it."

"Or both on the same day," Iris said.

"So do you still have a soft spot for the Flash?" Toby asked.

"Maybe - " Iris held up a pinched finger. "Maybe a little one."

"Big one," Barry stage-whispered. "Biiiiiiiig soft spot."

"Getting smaller by the moment," she said.

He snickered.

"What would you do if the Flash ever started crushing back?" Toby challenged him, just to help Iris out. "I mean, she has said some pretty nice things."

Iris's eyes lit up, and she turned them on her husband with unholy glee. "Yeah, sweetie, what _would_ you do?"

He blinked. "Uh - well. I don't know what I could do. Because if he wanted, he could just grab her up and whoosh her away."

"Maybe he already has," Iris said.

"But you're here," Barry pointed out.

She fluttered her lashes at him and said, "Maybe I said, 'sorry, Flash, you're fast and amazing and all, but take me back home. I've got my completely human hero already.'"

"Aww," Barry said. "Babe."

Toby used her drink to hide her eyeroll and her smile.

Sheesh, newlyweds.

FINIS


End file.
